For the past three weeks, the house has been in chaos. House Republicans removed their leader Kevin McCarthy, but had not been able to agree on a new candidate to appoint. None of the candidates had been able to win the 217 votes for a house majority out of the 221 House Republicans. Radical and moderate republicans had not been able to agree, causing a huge divide and a mess in the house. A growing number of radical republicans has caused an imbalance in power, with not enough radicals to win a majority but enough that the moderates can’t out number them. Each faction can also block the other’s candidate because the republican party is small enough that 4 lawmakers can block another speaker. 

On Wednesday October 25th, Mike Johnson was elected House Speaker, considered a victory for the conservatives. But now the challenge is for the house to get its act back together again, facing issues like the November 17 budget deadline and budget requests to fund Israel and Ukraine. 

Cites

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/25/us/politics/house-republicans-speaker-vote-johnson.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/25/briefing/house-speaker.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/26/briefing/house-speaker-mike-johnson.html